For an entertainer now positioned in the ratings just below Ricki Lake and just above Geraldo Rivera, the talk show host is about to occupy a seat of commentary and respectability on the 10 p.m. newscast that goes to few other news personalities.

At the same time that he is temporarily assuming the mantle of a serious pundit, here are this week's scheduled topics for his day job on WMAQ-Ch. 5 (2 p.m.): dating a sister's ex-husband, the pornography industry, women who want to pose nude and, possibly, the men who love them.

The contradiction is nothing new to the articulate and often engaging Springer: Before his incarnation as a talk show host, he was Lawyer. Then Politician. An amateur Country-Western Singer. Stand-up Comedian. Political Commentator.

It might not please his critics, especially Carol Marin, who resigned last week as a Channel 5 anchor after Springer's hiring, but Springer at one time had a reputation as a serious Journalist.

"He was real credible, because that's all that we knew of him, as a passionate liberal councilman and a mayor, long before this other alter ego," said John Kiesewetter, television critic for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

After getting his law degree from Northwestern University in 1968 (that year he also volunteered for Robert Kennedy's campaign for the Democratic nomination for president) Springer began working for a law firm in Cincinnati.

Two years later he made his first unsuccessful political run as a Democratic candidate for Congress. In 1971, when Springer was 27, he was a "boy wonder" elected to the nine-member City Council.

After hints in a local gossip column appeared, Springer resigned as vice mayor in 1974 after admitting he paid a Kentucky prostitute with a personal check. But only a year later he was again elected to the City Council, and in 1977 council members voted him mayor.

While in that modest political office, Springer began to dabble in entertainment, doing commentaries on a local rock 'n' roll radio station.

He was popular, especially for his political promotions, including one called "Switch Your Career Day," and once he drove a bus while someone else took over the mayor's office. After an unsuccessful run for the Ohio governor's office in 1982, Springer was hired as a political analyst in 1982 by NBC affiliate WLWT.

Springer was named WLWT's primary co-anchor in 1984, while continuing to do opinion pieces, and the station enjoyed years of ratings success. He was once "a very important part of the news team here," said Lyn Tolan, news director for WLWT.

When Springer started doing a talk show for WLWT in 1991, it covered traditional topics. A year later, it was launched into syndication, where it stayed on the high moral ground with such subjects as AIDS and the homeless, but it got trounced in the ratings.

It was a lesson.

As Kiesewetter recalls, Springer was a "brilliant essayist, a brilliant commentator. But this was all before the transvestites and the Nazis and everybody he's had parading on the show."

In May 1994, Springer changed his format, trying to attract a younger audience. His ratings soared as a result, and an auspicious new wrinkle to his career was born.

"There's a good number of people down here who loved his commentaries," said Kiesewetter. But he added that some Cincinnati television watchers also think "he sold out doing this talk show thing, and hold it against him."

Springer's credits as a serious newsman was a reason he was chosen to do commentaries, according to Channel 5 president and general manager Lyle Banks.

"I think his reputation for insightful commentary speaks for itself," Banks said Friday, adding that "this is not going to be `The Jerry Springer Show.' We are trying to open our news product to get different perspectives and viewpoints."

"You can point out all you want that Springer used to be a TV reporter, but as of late he's been putting on one of TV's worst carny sideshows," said Ray Suarez, who worked at Channel 5 from 1986 to mid-1993 before hosting National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation."

"It could be that he's looking to emulate Geraldo Rivera," said Jeff Borden, an associate editor for Crain's Chicago Business who covers the media.

"However, at first blush, this looks much like a sweeps gimmick meant to engender a lot of interest, which it already has, for Channel 5 and certainly, in some small way, to recast Mr. Springer's image as something other than a carnival barker for salacious subjects."

And it seems as if, at least for his first commentary Monday, Springer is ready to tackle a hot topic. Banks noted "Jerry said he wanted to talk about (his own) controversy the first night, and then on to other issues, like the Bulls."